Chapter 19: The Court of Judicial Review Has Gone on a Rampage!

“What a sin…”

Minister Wang cast a glance at the several Assistant Directors of the Court of Judicial Review seated beside him.

Every one of them wore the look of someone whose parents had just died.

Only Liu Sangui, seated at the very end, seemed different. He was nervous as well, but there was also a trace of bewilderment in his eyes.

What was going on?

Had he not merely accepted a formal complaint?

So how had it drawn this many people?

Even Minister Wang, the lofty Minister of the Court of Judicial Review himself, had come in person.

“Bring in the plaintiff!”

At that sharp cry,

Ding Qiu, the envoy from the Shan Kingdom, walked in with head held high and chest thrust out.

“Look, the kneeling dog is here!”

“How rare. This is the first time in my life I’ve seen a dog with only two legs.”

“Indeed, it’s a rare sight. It’s also the first time I’ve seen a Shan Kingdom envoy walking on two legs.”

Hearing the curses hurled by the common people on either side,

Ding Qiu’s face turned ugly. He had already braced himself for this, but hearing it in person was another matter entirely.

He quickened his pace and came before the hall.

Looking at the grim-faced judges seated above, his heart settled immediately.

As expected, money could make ghosts grind the mill.

With such a grand display,

that Liu Sangui had truly taken his money and gotten things done!

He cleared his throat and shouted loudly:

“This envoy accuses Xu Tian, Prince of Qin of Great Xia!”

“As a prince of the realm, he disregarded the law and, without trial, privately executed the guards of my Shan Kingdom! This is not only a provocation against my Shan Kingdom, but also a trampling of Great Xia’s own laws!”

“I demand that Xu Tian publicly apologize to my Shan Kingdom and pay one million spirit stones in compensation!”

“Otherwise, my Shan Kingdom will absolutely not let this rest!”

The moment those words were spoken, the surroundings instantly erupted into an uproar.

Ding Qiu paid it no mind.

Smugly, he pulled out the written complaint covered with charges from his robes.

“Present it.”

Minister Wang waved a hand weakly.

A yamen runner took the complaint and delivered it to the bench.

Minister Wang picked it up, did not even look at it, and casually tossed it aside.

The complaint drifted down and landed on the floor.

The smile on Ding Qiu’s face froze.

“What does Your Excellency mean by this?”

Minister Wang lifted his eyelids and gave him a flat look.

“Do you understand Great Xia’s rules?”

“What rules?”

“To accuse a prince is an offense of a subordinate against his superior.”

Minister Wang’s voice suddenly turned cold.

“By Great Xia law, anyone who accuses a prince must first be struck with thirty heavy blows!”

“If one beneath a prince accuses a royal prince, he must first pass across a Nail Board and then endure the Oil Cauldron, two punishments in all! That proves his sincerity and also proves that he is not making wild accusations.”

“Otherwise, if just anyone could accuse a prince whenever he pleased, would that not throw everything into chaos?”

At those words, the expressions of the surrounding judges turned strange.

Because this was an ancient law of Great Xia, one that had long ago been abolished by the Prince of Qin.

Minister Wang was clearly bullying this man from the Shan Kingdom for not understanding Great Xia’s laws!

Even so, everyone kept their eyes lowered and their minds still, not saying a word.

As for Ding Qiu, his eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as he roared:

“What? I am a diplomatic envoy! I have immunity! And you want me to cross a Nail Board?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

Minister Wang spread his hands.

“This is the Court of Judicial Review, so matters here must be handled according to the Court of Judicial Review’s rules. If you do not wish to cross it, then take your complaint and leave.”

“Y-you…”

Ding Qiu trembled with rage.

He looked toward Liu Sangui, only to find that Liu Sangui also wore a bewildered expression, yet stubbornly did not say a word.

A chill crept into Ding Qiu’s heart.

It seemed this really was Great Xia’s law.

How could he know that Liu Sangui understood absolutely nothing about the law? His mind was already a complete mess.

Since he did not understand, naturally he did not dare say anything.

But matters had already come this far…

Ding Qiu was riding a tiger and could no longer get off. His expression shifted several times.

The Second Prince was about to arrive. If he still could not recover some face before then…

“I… I won’t cross it!”

Ding Qiu gritted his teeth.

“But I have this. Will this do?”

Looking at the jade pendant Ding Qiu had produced, Minister Wang narrowed his eyes, and even his voice began to tremble:

“This is… a treasure of the Confucian Dao? Bring it here! If it is genuine, then it may count as a merit and offset your crime…”

Back in those war years, what had been lost abroad was not only authentic relics of the Confucian Sage, but also all manner of treasures of the Confucian Dao.

Though they could not compare to an authentic relic of the Confucian Sage, they were still extremely precious to Confucian cultivators.

Of course, they were only useful to Confucian cultivators.

To everyone else, they were nothing but ornaments.

That was why Ding Qiu could bring one out.

“Hmph!”

Ding Qiu once again handed over the written complaint.

After the judges confirmed the jade pendant’s authenticity, they also passed the complaint around and read it in turn.

They exchanged a glance.

Then…

they threw the complaint down again.

“Still not enough.”

Ding Qiu was about to lose his mind.

“You took the item already, so what else do you want?!”

Minister Wang leisurely sipped his tea.

“You are a man of the Shan Kingdom, and the one you are accusing is a prince of Great Xia. This is a diplomatic dispute.”

“By Great Xia law, any case involving foreign envoys should fall under the jurisdiction of the Court of Diplomatic Reception.”

“So why have you come to the Court of Judicial Review?”

Damn it!

Ding Qiu felt sweetness rise in his throat, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Of course he knew that diplomatic matters were supposed to go to the Court of Diplomatic Reception.

But he was not following the proper process in the first place.

That Liu Sangui had taken the goods and still could not even manage something this simple?

He glared viciously at the blank-faced Liu Sangui, grinding his teeth.

“Y-you people are playing me for a fool!”

The fury in his eyes was nearly spilling over.

“You accepted my complaint and took my item, and now you tell me I came to the wrong place?”

Minister Wang nodded. Looking at the furious Ding Qiu, he answered slowly and deliberately:

“Yes. That is correct. Is there a problem?”

“Good, very good! You are all very impressive indeed!”

Ding Qiu laughed from sheer rage, shot Liu Sangui a venomous glare, and turned to leave.

But then a voice sounded faintly from behind him.

“This official… gave you permission to leave?”

Ding Qiu spun around and looked at Minister Wang, whose face now held a cold sneer.

“What do you mean by this? What else do you want?”

“This is the Court of Judicial Review! Do you think it is a place where you may come and go as you please?”

Smack!

Minister Wang slammed the judge’s block.

The sharp crack made the entire great hall hum.

“Ding Qiu! As a foreign envoy, you have roared in this court, insulted officials of the dynasty, and treated Great Xia’s laws with contempt! More than that, you have falsely accused a royal prince and attempted to provoke strife between two nations!”

“For all these crimes combined! Men, seize him and throw him into the death cell!”

“You dare?! Have you gone mad?”

Ding Qiu staggered backward in terror.

“I am an envoy! I am an envoy of the Shan Kingdom! This is a diplomatic dispute! It should fall under the Court of Diplomatic Reception! Why should your Court of Judicial Review, under Great Xia law, have any authority over me?”

He tried to activate the National Fortune treasure protecting his body, but nothing happened.

Then, with a sideways glance, he saw the official seal in Minister Wang’s hand emitting threads of golden light.

This was… suppression by national fortune!

Within their own yamen, officials of Great Xia could use their official seals to draw upon Great Xia’s national fortune and suppress all foreign supernatural power.

At last, he understood.

These people had been prepared from the start.

He had walked straight into the net!

He stared at Liu Sangui, who was still wearing that same bewildered look, and finally could not hold back any longer.

“Liu Sangui! You bastard took my money, failed to do the job, and even framed me! I should never have trusted you—”

“Presumptuous!”

Before he could finish speaking, a sharp light flashed in Minister Wang’s eyes.

“Excellent! You even dared bribe an official of the dynasty. Add another count to his crimes!”

He suddenly pointed toward Liu Sangui in the corner, whose expression changed drastically.

“Liu Sangui! As an Assistant Director of the Court of Judicial Review, you knowingly broke the law, accepted bribes, and colluded with a foreign power!”

“Men! Seize him as well and investigate everything together!”

Minister Wang bared his teeth in a wide grin. The official seal in his hand shone brilliantly. He had truly gone completely berserk:

“He dared accept bribes and frame His Highness the Prince of Qin! There must be secrets behind this. Investigate it thoroughly!”

“How could this happen…”

Liu Sangui’s vision went black. The true qi within his body had been suppressed, and he slumped weakly into his chair.

Those yamen runners, who had long since been unable to restrain themselves, charged forward like wolves and tigers.

Some pinned down Ding Qiu.

Others dragged Liu Sangui away.